Skip to main content

The Way Forward, Inspiration

You are here: Home » The Way Forward, Inspiration 

Nico and Christopher at the fair. January 21, 2023.



Sometimes, my struggles are insurmountable, and I push whatever it is out of my mind as if it is going to eventually go away. We all know that is not the case. Those issues are lingering, waiting, and ready to rear their ugly heads. Yet, somehow, I make it through. I realign myself to prepare for the next month. And so it goes as the time moves from days to weeks into months. As long as I know there is a way forward, I cannot fail.

But the way forward is a constant battle, and there will be failure. How I respond to my failure makes me who I am. One can’t sit back and assume the ends will meet without effort. You have to forecast what is coming up shortly. Unfortunately, there really isn’t any saving for a “rainy day fund when there are bills that need to be paid, kids to be fed, and a loved one to care for. The hustle never stops.

When I feel overwhelmed, and there are times that I do, I choose to win my battles of self-defeat by reinforcing my good qualities and repeating to myself my accomplishments up to this point. And that accomplishment can be anything, really. I just walked around my house. The power is on, I have food in the fridge, and my pantry is brisling with dry goods and snacks. There is running water, my cell phone is active, and the Internet is A-Okay. I feel as if I am winning. 

But what is winning, really? Is getting by in life good enough to win? Of course, I would love the comfort that constant money provides to fund my future wins. Cash in an account to pay for emergencies or supplies for the mid-week. I have money to meet my colleagues for lunch. Give my kids an extra allowance for doing great school. Give my wife money to get her hair and nails done. Little things like that are helpful. But winning is also typing this blog on my desktop computer inside my home in air-conditioned. Those other things are minimal goals and a way to continue my path forward. 

I don’t have to be grateful for every little minute detail of my life. Do I really pay myself for the necessities of life? This is the whole theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The sense of safety, love, belonging, and self-esteem are all parts of life. My parents instilled those things in me to forge a path forward to sustain my life and have a structure to provide for my loved ones. I’m grateful to my parents and school for providing this information about my work ethic and responsibility for me to survive. But I would love to do more than simply survive. 


Day in and day out, I hustle to survive in this world. I am proud of my accomplishments and my survival skills to make it here to this moment. But I realize there is so much more out there for me to do other than simply supplying myself with the basic needs of survival. A whole life out there beckons me to participate in it. But more than month-to-month is needed. I must see what is on the horizon and find a way forward so that I, too, can enjoy the finer things in life.  

562 words

 


Blake and Max. May 16, 2023. 



© Copyright 2012- 2024 Captain Imperfecto, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be republished, rewritten or redistributed without permission.  Please contact if you would like to re-publish in film, television or print. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Far Away"

You are here: Home » "Far Away" May 5th, 2012 For mommy in heaven… My kids wouldn't let me sleep last night. I kept them busy all afternoon and evening, yet they were still very hyper. I picked Nico up from school at 2:00 o'clock P.M. and decided to take them for a road trip to Broward County. It's a close drive from where we live. I am just one county over to the north. I didn't feel like going home and falling into the same routine. I wanted to stimulate the boys so that they would sleep later that night. Honestly, maybe we all could get some sleep that night. It's hard to get motivated in life when you are sleep-deprived. Nico leaves class about 10 minutes earlier than the rest of the school. Since he was a premature baby, he has had a learning delay with speech. The State of Florida placed him in a program called Early Steps. It's a great program, and it allows him to catch up to the rest of his peers academically so that by the time h...
19 comments
`D

Hi Mama. Bye Mama

You are here: Home » Hi Mama. Bye Mama. June 26, 2012 Hi mama. Bye, mama. And so it goes. Up the street, hi, mama, down the street, bye, mama. The boys know where they can find mommy. It's just down the road, a path we take every day. Everywhere we go. We go with the flow. Hi mama. Bye, mama. It always starts the same, the familiar path of the road the boys have become accustomed to. It doesn't matter what we do; we will always pass right on through; regardless of how we travel, mom will always be on their left or their right. She's never too far out of sight. Hi mama. Bye, mama. The boys anticipate the car ride. They look on either side as we drive by, seeking a clear view of their mama to be seen through. They eagerly await with no other thought on their plate. They are just waiting for the moment to see their number one visually. Hi mama. Bye, mama We are getting closer now; they look at Dad, their pal. Their smiles reach from ear to ear, knowing the time is near...
17 comments
`D

Anatomy of a Loss

You are here: Home » Anatomy of a Loss July 5, 2012 When you lose someone that you love and that you depend on, it feels like everything around you has just crashed and burned. It doesn't matter what is happening in the world because yours just got charred beyond recognition. You are forced to reprogram everything about you. Who you are. What your path in life was. The goals you had planned. Everything before the death of a loved one is scraped.  Your mind wanders about aimlessness, and you just go over your mind time and time again about how you will be able to do it. Where do you go from here? You are afraid and bewildered because you are unsure what to do and who to turn to. You find that you question God and yourself and examine everything about your life.  The doubts set in about yourself, and you want to return to the day before so badly just to reassure yourself that everything ...
11 comments
`D